Fluff and Family
by Quillinx
Summary: Follow the ups, downs, and in-betweens of a little family of Eevee living in a human-free forest, just trying to get by (and get the last Apple!) As the five young Pokémon grow up and begin venturing outside their comfort zone, what challenges will they face? And, in the end, which Evolution path will each of them choose?
1. The Beginning

**i couldn't resist making this scene really soppy, omg i'm sorry xDD**

**regular chapters will be longer ^^**

**hope you enjoy this fic! i'll try to update at least once a week :**

* * *

"Mara!" There was something urgent in the call. The Flareon perked up her ears before dropping the Berry she was nibbling on and racing in the direction of the burrow.

"Jolte?" she called nervously, peering into the entrance for her mate.

"It's hatching!" A spiky yellow head poked out of the hole and surveyed her with wide, indigo eyes. "Hurry!" said the Jolteon, disappearing again.

With a gasp, the Flareon dived in after him.

Trotting down the long tunnel, she soon reached the cozy hollow that the two Pokémon called home. In the center was a soft nest of straw and grass, gently cushioning the egg that was rocking back and forth.

Jolte glanced up, and his gaze was full of excitement. In awe, Flamara reached out a delicate orange paw and touched the smooth, warm surface of the brown-and-cream ovoid.

"Our first child," said the Jolteon, staring at the egg. Flamara settled down beside him, her heart suddenly feeling the need to swell in her chest. She looked over and nuzzled her nervous-looking mate tenderly.

"It's going to be fine," she reassured him.

"Huh? Who's worried? I'm not worried," said Jolte anxiously, kneading his spiky paws into the ground. Flamara couldn't help but giggle.

"She's going to be perfect," the Flareon said, watching the egg wobble in its nest. Jolte perked up his ears.

"How do you know it's going to be a she?" he asked, somewhat indignantly. Flamara sighed happily and leaned against him, her heart beating fast.

"I just know," she said contentedly.

Suddenly Jolte gasped.

"It's cracking!" the Jolteon stammered, grabbing his mate's paw. Her eyes were wide. Together, the pair of Pokémon watched as the egg shuddered. The crack running lengthwise along its smooth, curved surface began to lengthen. With a little pip, a tiny piece of shell broke off and landed at Flamara's feet.

Now both Pokémon were anxiously gripping the other's paw; Jolte's eyes were wide with anxiety, while Flamara's were full of expectant joy. The shell began to glow with a bright white light. The two Pokémon closed their eyes against the blinding burst; Flamara could feel Jolte trembling against her side.

"It's going to be okay," she murmured, and then all of a sudden the light subsided.

The Egg had hatched.

* * *

Jolte kept his eyes closed. _Oh my Arceus our baby is hatching what if something goes wrong oh no what if it doesn't like me-_

His thoughts were interrupted by a delighted gasp from his mate.

"Jolte! Oh, look, our baby…"

Hesitantly, the Jolteon opened his eyes and gasped as well.

"Oh, Mara…" he murmured, springing up and stepping to her side. For a second, the two Pokémon could do nothing but stare speechlessly at the little bundle in the nest.

The baby Pokémon yawned, showing a bright pink tongue and tiny, perfect white teeth. With an unsteady brown paw, she pawed at a little stalk of grass tickling her ear. The little Eevee had two long, floppy brown ears, a silky ruff, and a huge fluffy tail almost as big as herself. Her eyes were a melting brown as they stared up uncomprehendingly into her parents' faces.

"She's gorgeous," whispered Jolte, and it didn't seem like he was saying enough so he tried again. "Really gorgeous." he said weakly.

Flamara bent down and licked the top of the little Eevee's head and then turned to her mate, eyes shining.

"Oh, she's so perfect," the Flareon said softly. "Like a little jewel." Her eyes lit up. "Jewel," she repeated. "We could name her Jewel."

"Mara, that's a perfect name," said Jolte, reaching out to touch his daughter's head. She yawned and blinked, staring up at him, and then licked his paw.

Simultaneously, the two Pokémon tore their gazes away from their new baby, looking happily at each other. Suddenly, Jolte narrowed his eyes playfully.

"The invasion is starting," he whispered dramatically into Flamara's ear. She giggled and swatted at him half-heartedly with a fluffy paw.

"Our _family_ is beginning," she corrected him lovingly.

Below them, in the nest of straw, Jewel chirped as if agreeing with her mother.


	2. Adventures

**mhm. hope you enjoy! xD**

**i'm going with the notion that baby Pokémon are pretty much functional right after they're born, seeing as you can battle with them, so... yeah.**

* * *

Jewel blinked sleepily and looked around the hollow. Mom and Dad were asleep, so she rose to her feet and attempted to walk towards the exit. Wobbling slightly and still a little unsteady, she made her way outside.

She scrabbled slightly before managing to pull herself out and onto the grass. The dew that was caught in each individual blade tickled her feet; it felt refreshing and tasted good when she licked it. Bending down to sniff at a flower, she reared back and sneezed. The force of the nasal explosion sent her careening backwards, squeaking, until she came to a stop at the foot of an old oak tree. Belly-up, she gazed at the sky in silent awe.

The rising sun had painted the horizon in a thousand different shades of rose, indigo, and gold, tinting the fluffy clouds ringing the distant mountains a fairylike shade of pink. Dazzled by the brilliance of the scene, Jewel watched in rapt silence until the sun began to peek over the tops of the pine trees. Wincing and shielding her just-born eyes, she gasped in wonder as the dewdrops littering the fresh grass began to sparkle like something out of a lovely dream. She reached out a paw, almost fearfully, to touch one of the droplets- but as soon as she made contact, the spark of fire inside it was gone, as if it had never been there. Confused, she retracted her paw and stared at the dab of moisture on its tip.

Bouncing to her feet again, she sprinted around the little patch of grass, giggling at the way the blades tickled her damp feet. A ray of sunlight piercing through the branches of a tree caught her attention, and she spent a good five minutes poking her paw in and out of the beam and watching how she could block its passage to the ground below. When she peered up to try and find the source of the sunlight, however, she squealed in surprise and pain and toppled backwards, rolling into the grass.

But not for long! Shaking out her long ears, the young Eevee snatched glances at the rising sun and then blinked away the afterimages. Every fallen leaf on the ground was new to her.

Suddenly, she caught sight of something fluttering its wings, just outside the ring of bouncy mushrooms surrounding the glade. She only hesitated for a moment before plunging into the forest, leaving the den and clearing behind.

This was a whole different world, full of shadows and light at the same time and little climbing staircases of lichen draping the huge trunks. Little flying things whirred around as Jewel picked her way clumsily through bushes and over tree roots. Whatever had been fluttering was now lost to sight, but it was quickly forgotten as the little Eevee tried to take everything in at once. The rising sun cast an almost magical glow over the leaves, and the ground itself seemed to breathe in and out beneath her feet.

Soon, though, her stomach began to rumble, and thoughts of the cosy den and her two loving parents filled her head. Confident in the knowledge that the forest would always be here to return to, she turned around, ready to head home.

She gazed around at the stands of trees, her eagerness quickly souring into anxiety. In her rambling search around the forest, she hadn't bothered to pick out landmarks, or even note much more than interesting pebbles or pretty plants. Although she was young, she wasn't stupid, and she quickly realized that she was lost.

Lost! Lost in a huge forest, with no way to contact anyone, and in order to get home she would have to search until she found the right path, and her paws were- now that she thought about it- getting tired. And she was hungry. And lost! She was lost!

Furrowing her nose, the baby Eevee sat down on a soft patch of moss and had a good cry.

But for a Pokémon just born yesterday, she had a good deal of sense and possibly more than her fair share of intelligence, and she soon realized that crying wasn't going to do all that much good, apart from possibly attracting predators. So she got to her feet, wiped off her tears with a clumsy paw, and looked around.

All the trees looked the same. She closed her eyes, trying to imagine the path she had taken to get to this spot. Panic kept breaking through, but she tried to concentrate, slowly rotating on the spot until she felt a sort of mental tug. Opening her eyes, she gazed at a gnarled old tree full of sleepy Seedot. There was something about that tree… no, that direction, that felt like home.

With all the blind trust of the young, she trotted off.

This time, she was utterly focused on getting home, ignoring anything interesting that caught her attention. Mentally comforting herself as she went, by the time she reached a dubiously familiar-looking set of bushes, she was convinced that on the other side of the foliage, she would find her home.

She pushed through the leaves and caught her breath.

It was the gorgeous sunset she had marvelled at, but somehow captured in a sparkling pool, swimming and rippling and somehow _singing_ in a whispery, soothing sort of way. Entranced and, for the moment, forgetting about her longing for home, Jewel stepped closer to the vision, her ears pricking forward to catch the gentle whooshing that had caught in her heart. She felt sure that it was there to make her happy, to catch her and take her wherever she wanted to go. It was like pure freedom.

As if in a trance, she stepped closer and then even closer to the glittering expanse, and then halted right at the edge. Damp sand squeaked beneath her feet and itched between her toes as she bent down, her nose an inch from the undulating waves, and-

oh!

With a tiny _splash_, Jewel fell in.

She hadn't expected it to be water, after all; she had expected it to hold her up if she walked on it. Flailing for a second with her weak limbs, she allowed herself to open her eyes and be amazed by the pure azure depths of the lake. She gasped in wonder and choked on water.

Spluttering, the young Eevee inhaled even more water as she struggled to draw breath. Her paws broke the surface for a moment, but she couldn't grab ahold of anything. Blindly terrified, she flailed out at nothing and -

"Whoa there, steady, young 'un." Something grabbed her scruff and pulled the sopping wet Eevee, choking, out of the water. Jewel felt herself being draped across the sandy shore and gasped for air. She spat out a mouthful of water and blinked open her eyes, drawing ragged breaths.

A large Pokémon with round, concerned eyes and a spherical navy-blue body peered down at her. Jewel's huge brown eyes traced the spiral marking on his stomach.

"You alright there, youngster?" asked the Poliwhirl anxiously, brushing a bit of lakeweed off of Jewel's head and peering down at the little scrap of fur.

"I- I didn't know it was water," the little Eevee managed at last, blinking up at the other Pokémon. Poliwhirl laughed hard at this, but quickly sobered as he gazed down at the Eevee.

"I reckon, on mornin's like this, when the sun's dancin' out on the waves and everything's so purty- yeah, I reckon it wouldn' be too hard to mistake it fer somethin' other'n just a plain ol' lake, that's fer certain." he said reflectively. Jewel watched him with wide eyes. "Any road," he said suddenly, turning back to her, "you look like a bit o' a young 'un to be out here all by yer lonesome, am I right?"

Jewel felt a rush of relief.

"I'm… I'm sort of lost," she admitted, getting to her feet unsteadily and shaking herself off of damp sand and water.

"Lemme guess, you're Mara an' Jolte's kid, aren't ya?" said the Poliwhirl, helping her to her feet. "No worries, their place ain't far from here. I'll walk ya there."

* * *

"Oh! Jewel!" Flamara gasped, rushing over to the pair as they stepped into the mushroom ring. "Where have you been?!"

"I found this tyke playin' by the lake," chuckled Poliwhirl, patting Jewel's head before letting her go. She rushed into Flamara's arms.

"I wanted to go exploring but I got lost and then I di'n't know how to get back and I tried to feel for the direction I should go but it di'n't work and I almost drownded, Mom!" the young Eevee spluttered. Flamara nodded like she understood and patted her head.

"Now I hope you've learned your lesson about wandering off by yourself," said Jolte sternly, but he softened as soon as he saw Jewel's shining face. The Eevee loosened herself from Flamara's arms and bounced over to Poliwhirl.

"And he says he'll teach me how to swim!" Jewel said proudly.

Flamara and Jolte looked at each other.


	3. Swimming Lessons

**a fluffy little chapter c:**

**enjoyyy**

**/coughcough canya guess what jewel's gonna evolve into /shot**

* * *

"Wheeee!" Jewel squealed loudly as she bounced around her father's feet. "Come onnn, Daddy! Can't you go any faster?" she pleaded, hopping up and down. Jolte chuckled, his eyes narrowing slightly as he gazed down at his little daughter.

"Is that a challenge?" he dared playfully. Jewel's wide eyes widened even further as she gasped.

"Race! Race!" The little Eevee darted around her father's legs. "C'mon c'mon c'mon!"

"Alright, alright." Grinning himself, the Jolteon began to count down. Jewel crouched down beside him, almost vibrating with energy. "One… two… two and a half…" He glanced down and smirked.

"Daddeeee!"

"Okay, okay, fine. One… two… last-one-there-is-a-rotten-Berry!"

With a loud squeal, Jewel exploded forwards. Jolte kept back, allowing the little Eevee to believe she was winning as they hared through the trees.

"I'm gonna get you!" he warned playfully. Jewel giggled breathlessly as they plunged through the undergrowth.

"No you won't!" she protested, sprinting ahead and suddenly disappearing in a puff of leaves. Jolte skidded to a halt, a pang of terror piercing his chest for a moment, before Jewel's fluffy head burst back out of the bush.

"The lake's this way!" she informed Jolte, as if he didn't already know. "Come onnnn, come on!"

Sighing, Jolte pushed his way through the bush as well. As he emerged on the other side, he blinked and shielded his eyes with one paw; the light reflecting off the water after the cool darkness of the forest almost blinded him for a second. As his pupils adjusted, the sight of Jewel bouncing exuberantly around an amused Poliwhirl made him smile.

"I won the race!" exclaimed the Eevee excitedly. "Told'ja you couldn't beat me!"

"Okay, okay, you were right. Congratulations." Jolte smirked and sat down by the lake, careful not to let any stray sparks touch the water. "Now show me what you've got, flufferdoodles."

"Yahh!" With a yell of triumph, Jewel took a running jump at the water and splashed in; Jolte winced as specks of water hit his face.

"Daddy! You're not looking!" Opening his eyes, Jolte watched his daughter bob to the surface and spit out water before performing a passable doggy-paddle, swimming towards the center of the lake while Poliwhirl treaded water alongside. "Look, Daddy look! I can do a flip!" Jewel immediately disappeared underwater.

A few seconds later, she popped back up, breathless and beaming. "Daddy did you see, did you see?"

"Yes, I saw. It was very good." Jolte reassured the sopping wet Eevee. He hadn't seen a thing, except for a few bubbles drifting up as his daughter performed her trick. Jewel frowned.

"I think I messed up, though," she said, shaking water out of one ear and swimming back towards the surface.

"Oh, you did fine. Just a little more, uhm, action with the right leg, and you'll be all set," said Jolte, making things up as he went. Jewel tilted her head, dragging herself out of the water, and shook her coat dry, making her look a bit like a Zigzagoon.

"Daddy, you don't move your legs when you do a flip," she explained patiently.

"Right, then. Just a bit of… um… just listen to your teacher, and you'll have it." finished Jolte hastily, giving her a smile.

"Yeah! Okay!" Jewel bounced towards her father and began pushing him back into the bush.

"Can't I stay and watch you train?" joked the Jolteon. Jewel pouted.

"No! The show's over!" Jolte smirked as he backed through the shrubbery and listened to Jewel's excited splashing on the other side.

His daughter certainly was growing up fast.


End file.
